In article , payer3389
@mypacks.net says...

On 1/24/11 12:11 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
On Jan 24, 10:39 am, wrote:
In ,
says...





On 1/24/11 10:15 AM, Frogwatch wrote:
Yesterday, I went with my daughter to look for caves along the
Apalachicola River flood plain edge. We came upon a very isolated
landing on the river and there were a half dozen houseboats tied to
shore. These were not commercially built houseboats but homebuilt
houses on pontoons. Clearly people were living full time in them.
One was so big I'd estimate it at 1400 sq ft on multiple sets of
pontoons. The others looked very good and the whole landing area was
clean except a trashed out motor home. The boats were tied to trees
on shore and each had a "gangplank" going to shore that did not
actually touch the shore (a legal reason?). None had power lines
going to shore but they clearly had power because on one I saw window
AC units. One had smoke coming from his chimney on this cold January
day.
In talking to a local fisherman, I was admiring the ingenuity of the
builders but he replied as he spat on the ground "they oughta be run
off cuz they pay no taxes". Hmmmm. not sure what to think. They
sure are not getting much from the govt there and I think any legal
effort to remove them would cost more than it was worth in such a poor
county. They probably do pay boat fees and they are clearly able to
move at will to another location. The river is over 140 miles from
Apalachicola to the dam where there is a lock and then a huge lake
with many miles of shoreline. Above the dam ther eis the Flint River
with another 50 miles of river and then there is the Chattahoochee
river navigable all the way to Columbus, GA; meaning, there are many
miles of river, sloughs and lakeshore for them so space is not an
issue.
What do others think of people paying no taxes like this. I admire
them.

I think they are hangers-on'ers, playing the system. And what happens to
their human waste and gray water? We know, right? Dumped right into the
river.

How do you "know" that?



No visible power lines, but they had electricity and air conditioning?
You think they all have huge generators?

The sheriff in whatever county they are in should tell them to shove off.

They aren't using infrastructure, etc. so why should they have to pay
taxes for things they don't use?

Considering that they can be boarded by the marine patrol at any time
and checked to see if they violate the ban on dumping wastewater
overboard, I assume they have holding tanks or porta-pottis. I am
also sure they have generators or solar as there seemed to be no
electrical connections to shore.


I wouldn't assume people living as you described give a damn about
holding tanks. Why do you assume that to be the case?

Why would YOU assume they don't? Once again, it's the same old **** from
you. If you don't do it, no one else should.

Why should they have to pay taxes? To support the county/state roads,
schools, environmental inspections, et cetera.

That's why.

What if they're not using any of those?

Oh...they have porti-pottis, eh? Where do they dump them? In the
dumpster behind the local wal-mart?

How do you know they don't dispose of waste properly?